At nine years, this was England's
longest serving and most iconic uniform. If we include the short-sleeved
lightweight variations worn in the 1970s, it appeared in 81 full
internationals. 78 players had the honour of wearing the shirt, an average
of almost one new player selected by Sir Alf Ramsey or Joe Mercer for each
game.
In the table of appearances for this uniform, all of the top five won a World
Cup winners medal in 1966. Martin Peters is second, with 56 appearances,
followed by Alan Ball, with 53, and the two knights, Sir Bobby Charlton and
Sir Geoff Hurst, with 42.
52 players were capped for the first
time in this shirt, with five going on to win over 60 caps; Ball (with 72), Peters (with
67), Dave Watson (with 65), Kevin Keegan (with 63) and Emlyn Hughes (with
62).
46 players made their last England
appearance in the shirt, including Moore's 108th, Peters' 67th and Ray
Wilson's 63rd.
Eighteen England internationals wore only
this uniform at full level, with David Nish winning all five of his caps in
it.

Top Scorers

World Cup Final hat-trick hero, Sir
Geoff Hurst was England's top scorer in the shirt, with nineteen goals, although
four were penalties. Martin Peters was one behind, on eighteen, with Sir Bobby
Charlton, England's all-time top scorer, weighing in with fifteen.
22 players netted their first England goals in the uniform, with Sir Geoff
going on to hit 24 in his international career.
24 players scored their last England
goal in the shirt, including Sir Bobby's record-breaking 49th, in Colombia,
in 1970, and Jimmy Greaves' 44th, against Spain, in 1967.
Francis Lee scored ten England goals,
all of which were netted whilst wearing this shirt. Eleven other players also
scored all their international goals in the same uniform, including Sir
Bobby's elder brother, and fellow World Cup winner, Jack Charlton, who
scored six. Bobby Moore also netted twice in his career, in this same shirt.

Captains

England's World Cup-winning captain,
Bobby Moore won 66 of his 108 caps in this shirt, more than any other
player. In all but one of the games, he was captain, relinquishing the role
temporarily on the occasion of Sir Bobby Charlton's 100th cap in 1970. Moore
captained his country 90 times overall.
Aside from Moore, England were led out
by six other players in this uniform. Emlyn Hughes made five appearances as
captain and went on to lead England out on eighteen more occasions. Martin Peters
(5), Sir Bobby (3), Colin Bell (once) and Alan Mullery (once) only captained
England in this uniform, whilst Jimmy Armfield returned to the England team
to make his last two appearances as captain on the pre-World Cup tour of
1966, having previously led England out on thirteen occasions.

This classic
plain white, rounded-neck jersey, made by Umbro, was worn with navy blue
shorts and white socks from 1965 to the end
of the 1973-74 season, through all but the evolution of
Alf Ramsey's managerial reign. The player numbers appearing on the
shirt's back were red, whilst the socks that accompanied the uniform were
a plain white, making the strip simple,
yet elegant, and that elegance befitted the players it adorned.

Umbro's return to its role as the
national team's supplier after a five-year gap, began with them supplying long sleeves for
all games, regardless of the conditions. All previous Umbro England shirts
had been short-sleeved. Whether it was the thought that the
summer weather at the 1966 World Cup would inevitably be very British, or
whether there was some other scientific reason, England stuck with long
sleeves for the historic tournament, which began in mid-July. This was the
furthest into a summer that any World Cup has ever been held.

The climate obviously held no problems
for England as they went on to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy (although the white shirt yielded to
the red in the final match victory against West Germany),
and they did not wear short sleeves again until 1970, despite an appearance
at the
European Championship final tournament of 1968 in Italy, where England
finished third.

By 1969, however, Sir Alf Ramsey was
raising concerns about the heat and altitude in the next World Cup, and
England experimented with an Aertex lightweight long-sleeved shirt for their
friendly visit to Mexico.

These were
England's primary colours during the most successful period in the national
side's history, but, regrettably, the strip's last years were marked by a
drastic decline in England's fortunes, the failures to qualify for the final
tournaments of the European Championship of 1972 and World Cup 1974.